This Little Boy Is Growing Up

Life has been so full and other things have taken priority over this blog, and they will probably continue to do so. But the last few days I have found myself wanting to freeze time for a little while because I feel like I'm in a really sweet stage with Matthan and Lucy and I've been trying to savor it. Lucy grows so fast and changes so much... and stays in one place so it's easy to take pictures of her. Matthan...rarely sits still long enough for me to take a picture. So since I got one today, I want to freeze time, if even just in a blog post.

3 1/2 and trying to fill some big shoes

Allow me to gush for a minute. 

Matthan is a special kid. I know every parent says that, but there is something about him. He charms the world. He made people smile starting from when he was a tiny baby. He delights in the world and takes joy in all the little (and big) things, and I have yet to meet someone who has not been sucked in by the delight that radiates from him. We giggle at him sometimes because when he walks he occasionally jumps as if the joyful energy builds up and has to be let out somehow. 

He has a tender heart. He is sensitive to peoples' emotions, especially mine, and he piles on the charm if anyone is crying. 

He can read. Like 150 words. I lost count a long time ago. He reads my texts over my shoulder. 

He loves to make his sister laugh. But I think I'm his favorite person to make laugh.

Today he climbed all over the hill in the back yard picking up trash for me that blows into our yard when it storms. The yard doesn't seem big or treacherous until I see his little 3 yr old body hiking through it. He fell down or got stuck several times and hollered out to me. But he didn't want help. He got really stuck once and couldn't find a way back down the hill to me. And he sounded panicked. I asked him if he wanted me to come get him, or if he wanted to figure it out by himself. 

He said he wanted to figure it out by himself. 

He did not get this trait from me. 

As a mom, my instinct is to jump in and help or take over. And I still do sometimes (because he's 3), but I try to hold back as much as I can. And I'm equally proud that my little boy is growing up and equally sad that my little boy is growing up. 

And he wants to do it himself, but he wants to know that I'm there. 

Snakes For Dinner and More Hashtags

Today's Link-toberfest question from Kelly is "How many 7 Quick Takes have you posted?". I probably have not tagged or linked appropriately for all of them, but this one is supposedly #27, which makes me feel like a big slacker because I thought I had a much higher number than this. But you don't care, you're here for the kid pictures, and I'm cool with that.

~ 1 ~

So many expressions. 

#canyouhandlethismuchcuteness?

~ 2 ~

#itstiringbeingthiscute

~ 3 ~

On a whim, I told Little Man that I had a special job for him. I wanted to see if he could use the big spray bottle, in hopes that one day he can really do some chores. He went to town and cleaned the breakfast table. He was so excited. Based on the amount of water he used, we won't be graduating to actual cleaner any time soon. Three year old entertained, mommy got to clean the kitchen...

#littlevictories

~ 4 ~

During a play date at the park, the boys became mesmerized by a guy riding a skateboard. He saw how interested they were and gave them each a turn standing on it. That wasn't enough for Matthan. He asked to ride it and the guy held his hands and helped him ride it. Matthan couldn't get enough. 

#cowabunga

~ 5 ~

Whether it's playing cars, riding skateboards, or riding his bike, Matthan seems to love things with wheels...and riding them in weird places. He likes to ride his bike in the crevice between the grass and the sidewalk (making me nervous that he's going to topple into the street). Here he is riding in the gravel behind the bike rack at the library.

#aboyandhisbike

#becausethesidewalkisntgoodenough

~ 6 ~

I made this. Little Man occasionally likes to play upstairs in the office/crap room...I mean craft room... so I steal a few minutes here and there while listening to LM play the cymbals and sing songs that he has made up. His latest ditty is "snakes for dinner". 

#hopethatisnotacrackatmycookingskills

#Imadethistoo

~ 7 ~

We had our first poopsplosion (defined as a poop explosion not properly contained within the diaper). Lucy, me, changing table...

#therewerenosurvivors

#allclean

Happy Friday everyone!!!

Matthan Turns 3!

Can you believe that this boy is three today?? Where has the time gone? 

I can't even begin to express the joy that our Little Man has brought us. I could gush and gush, but instead, I'll give you the highlights from today.

Matthan sat on the couch and waited for Daddy to bring out his present. When he saw it he made his surprised face and gasped "A bike? For me?" and put his hand over his mouth in disbelief.

Then the boys "rode" around the neighborhood for the next couple hours while Grandma, Grandpa, Mommy, and Lucy watched from the driveway. Periodically Matthan would yell: 

"Mommy do you see me?"

"Mommy I want big hugs!!" (Gets off bike, runs to hug me, continues bike ride, rinse and repeat x300)

"Mommy I want three big hugs!!"

"I'm riding!!!"

He talked the WHOLE time, non stop. Clearly there is a birthday word quota that I wasn't aware of, and he was trying to hit it before lunch. I think he was a little bit excited. ;)

Baby Lucy considerately napped so that Mommy could watch all the fun. 

Then Grandpa Jim got here with a train set, which they played with. During which, Matthan refused to take his helmet off. 

He only took it off when Grandma Mary and Grandpa Peter gave him his next present - a tent - and the helmet hindered "playing sleep" (my kind of game). Matthan requested Grandpa Jim to join him in the tent, to which Grandpa lovingly obliged by squeezing his over-six-feet frame into the tent.

For the last few months Matthan has been requesting chocolate cake for his birthday so Grandma made his wish come true. I added the detail on top to match his train set. He approved. 

He sang Happy Birthday to himself along with us and blew out his candles like a champ (I tried to teach him how to blow out candles in preparation for his second birthday and he burned his lip #parentingfail). 

He's been asking for help with eating his meals but he determined he was capable of eating his huge piece of cake all by himself.

The birthday boy is now taking a birthday nap in preparation of more birthday fun later today, which might include pool time or more bike riding (and nap time for Mommy and Baby Lucy. :)

And in case you missed them (because I just posted them), here are two other posts:
It's A Girl!! and Baby Lucy.

Baby Lucy (7QT's)

It's Seven Quick Takes time over at This Ain't The Lyceum. Go say hi to Kelly and check out the other Seven Quick Takes posts.

~ 1 ~

Baby Lucy arrived on Tuesday. 

~ 2 ~

The old wives' tales got it right.

 ~ 3 ~

We got to bring her home to her big brother on Wednesday.

~ 4 ~

I never thought I'd have a need for pink in my life, but we had a girl and suddenly the yellow and green "gender neutral" stuff we had the first time around just wasn't going to cut it. The grandparents came to the rescue and went shopping.

~ 5 ~

Just a few things about Lucy: 

If she doesn't want to eat, she doesn't. The whole "unwrap the baby, rub her hands and feet, etc" method does not work on this girl.

She has strawberry hair.

Doesn't flinch at the sound of the NutriBullet blender. She's my crunchy green smoothie baby, and apparently got use to the sound of it in utero.

~ 6 ~

Matthan got to meet Lucy when we brought her home. It was pretty hard to compete with Finding Nemo and pretzels, but I think she captured his attention for a minute. :)



Matthan has treated Lucy as if she's always been here. The first night he said "Baby Lucy, come watch Finding Nemo with me." He thinks it's funny when she squirms and says "Bless you Baby Lucy" when she sneezes. He checks on her throughout the day and gives her kisses.

Big brother watching over Baby Lucy.

See? In serious need of some pink around here.

Matthan taking pictures of Lucy on his camera.

Sweet big brother wanted to hold Baby Lucy.

~ 7 ~

We made the trip to the pediatrician today. She was weighed, measured, prodded, and deemed perfect in every way.  

Finally got a bow on this girl.

She slept on the way there, and on the way home. So Daddy put her down for a nap in her bed when we got home. :)

The Cuteness is Back! (7 Quick Takes Style)

I think it's safe to say that the best word to describe this here blog for the last several months as of late would be "silence". And as some of you have been lovingly nagging reminding me, you do need your dose of cuteness (and I'm sure my mundane ramblings) on a more regular basis...well, I aim to please. So without further ado...

~ 1 ~

He's back! One big dose of two-and-a-half-year-old cuteness right here. Weighing in at "starting to wear my back out" pounds and standing at "on the floor with his feet on my coffee table" feet high, it's the Little Man you've all missed. His current catchphrases are "Oh my gracious!" and "Oh bothuh" (Oh bother), both of which he got from Winnie the Pooh. 

Although, my favorite recent Matthan quote would have to be as he hopped over his nativity set on his way to running to the bathroom, "EXCUSE ME BABY JESUS!! I HAVE TO GO POTTY!!"

And yes, the sheep always goes on top of the tree. I don't know why.

~ 2 ~

I do have many excuses as to why it's been so quiet around here (on the blog that is, obviously, there is a two year old in the house, so it's not quiet around here, you know what I mean). I have two big announcements! But I can only share one of them with you today. I know, I'm terrible. I launched another blog! Because clearly, I'm so great at keeping up with blogs. 

No but seriously, as promised by myself last year via social media, www.spoonlickinnutrition.com was launched in January! It is my musings on the world of food and nutrition and my attempts to merge that world with my "I've got to get food on the table for my husband and son" world. It's gonna be great. Please go check it out! 

~ 3 ~

And if that wasn't enough, we have several house projects going on. We decided we're going to paint our living room. But because I have major color commitment issues, our living room looks like this: 

 

The guy at Home Depot made fun of me for my five samples. The sixth sample came from a friend who has a five gallon bucket of paint left over from a  project. But in my defense, our living room has vaulted ceilings and I fear that my husband will never ever do a painting project for me again once he's done with this monumental task so the color has to be the right one on the first try. And it's going in our hallways and probably in our dining room and kitchen too. So like I said.

The Hubs decided that if we were going to paint the living room then this was the time to fix the door casings that the previous owners' cat had mutilated. So he ripped off the door casing, but then realized he couldn't hammer during nap time/bed time so it looked like this for over a week in my house.

~ 4 ~

I really think that we were bitten by a radioactive "desperately needs to do house projects" spider, because if all of the other things weren't enough, we've decided to try to have a garden again this year. This really makes no sense for our season of life right now, but that's not stopping us. I mean, if my lack of gardening skill and my reputation for not watering the garden weren't enough to stop us nothing will. I got this seed catalog in the mail, and we just couldn't help ourselves. If we get one white watermelon (The Hubs' idea) out of this, it'll be a success.

Doesn't this just promise to be awesome

~ 5 ~ 

Matthan helped us pick out the seeds and by that I mean he ate popcorn and M&M's while Mommy and Daddy discussed garden plans until he ran out and then climbed all over the bed modeling my gardening hat. He has been quite the little helper though. He helps make his own oatmeal in the morning (which I'll have to tell you about some time). He makes me "green soup" in the bath tub (see the little green cup of water below), sometimes with a car crouton.

Me: "What are you making?"

Matthan: "Green soup."

Me: "What is in green soup?"

Matthan: "Sugar!"

Me: "What else goes in green soup?"

Matthan (stated matter of fact-ly): "Mmmm...green."

~ 6 ~

We've been enjoying the chaos of weekly toddler time at the library especially since we're stuck inside most days. Matthan loves getting new books and he won't wait until he gets home; he has to have them the moment we get in the car.

When story time is over, the kids play on the steps and the stage that has a ramp. Matthan asks for the ramp every week. He runs the same path - across the stage, down the ramp, and up the steps, back down the steps, up the ramp, and across the stage - over and over and over until I tell him it's time to go. 

He always leans against the same spot on the wall.

~ 7 ~

There was an unfortunate mishap at library time the other day. You should have seen the other kid.

Just kidding. The mishap was with an ink stamp but I was concerned that people at the grocery store might judge it as a black eye. Matthan was clearly unaffected.

Well that's all folks! I'm linking up with Kelly over at her blog: http://thisaintthelyceum.org/sqt-always-friday-dont-dare-forget/http://thisaintthelyceum.org/sqt-always-friday-dont-dare-forget/. Go check her out! 

A Week of Birthdays (Part 2)

(For Part 1, go here.)

I can't believe our Little Man has gone from this... 

1-year-old

... to this, in just a year.  This year's stats: Weight - 26 lbs, 2 oz (25%); Length - 35 in (75%).  Click on the previous picture for last year's stats.

2-year-old

He barely batted an eye as the squeezed his finger and took his blood, but he still screamed bloody murder when we put him on the table with the crinkly paper.  The horrible crinkly paper.

The next day we had to get loaded up to head to Savannah.  Matthan had been begging me "go to beach!" since we had taken him for the first time a month ago.  He would wake up in the morning or after a nap and the first words out of his mouth were "Go to beach?".  I made the mistake of telling him "yes, we are going to the beach" because explaining to him that we were going in a month, or two weeks, or two days was so. so. futile.  Every. day. for. a. month... "Go to beach?".  Repeat 100 times a day.

Since we would be celebrating The Hubs' birthday in Savannah as well, I decided to make him his favorite cake and take it with us.  Homemade red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting.  It looked like a crime scene in my kitchen.

Housewife in the kitchen with the measuring cup and spatula

We usually travel at night, so I had decided that Little Man needed to get some air before being stuck in the car for several hours.  It seemed like a good idea, but I did not account for all the sand, or the needed bath afterwards.

A little girl sat down next to him and started pouring on his shoe to which Matthan replied "Thank you!". 

We loaded up the car with all the necessities including "Puppy", "blankey", books, and "new puppy" (the stuffed dog my dad gave him for his birthday).  

The Happy Traveler with Puppy on left and New Puppy on right

In addition to celebrating birthdays, we headed to Savannah for the baptisms of two adorable babies, one of which The Hubs had been asked to be the Godfather.  

Praying for the babies on their special day

We ended up being the first ones there

Little Man fell asleep on the way to the reception

The main part of the meal following the baptisms was delayed, but Little Man was taken care of by his three doting cousins who supplied him with crackers and juice and never let either go empty.  His oldest cousin informed me that "Baby Matthan's plate looks low" (he had about 5 crackers) before darting off to resupply.  :)

We celebrated with The Hubs' family at his parents house...where "Baby Matthan" was in no short supply of food there either thanks to his cousins (and grandparents ;)  ).

Cousins Joey, Sophia, Ava, and Matthan

We celebrated both birthdays.  The Hubs was kind to share his celebration with Little Man so that his family wouldn't miss out on doting on Matthan for his birthday.  

The finished red velvet cake

Both boys received lovely gifts from everyone including a sand box which we magically stuffed into our car (just barely).  We have not set this up at home yet, because we are potty training... and I just think that is a bad idea (we will soon Grandma and Grandpa!).

I got caught taken pics of him :)

It was FINALLY beach day, and after breakfast I excitedly told Matthan "Ok buddy, let's get dressed and go to the beach!!!", to which he replied "NOOOOO!!!!" and ran away from me.  Two-year-olds.  He was very happy once we got to the beach.  We managed to take no pictures.  Sorry.

A sleepy boy after a long weekend

It was a wonderful week of birthdays! 

Finally home :)

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate!